As I'm writing this, it's my mom's birthday on Sunday and it got me thinking about a lot of things. I'm so lucky to have my mom in my life. Some people aren't fortunate enough to have a good relationship or a relationship at all with their mom.

My mom had me when she was 22. I'm 24 and can hardly take care of myself let alone be responsible for another life. She always has and continues to sacrifice anything to help me. The countless times she's given me money when I needed it, gave me rides from point A to point B, and picked up the phone when I need her.

It wasn't always easy, though. The funny thing about moms is that nobody knows you better than her. She was literally with you before you were born. My mom is no exception to that rule. I remember being a little kid and my mom playing the most annoying pranks on me, and I never ever took them well. She would ask me things like "hey, Ryan does this cupcake smell weird?" Then proceed to smash the cupcake in my face when I went to smell it.

Even in my teenage years, my mom and I weren't all that close. I remember constantly getting in fights with her. We never really saw eye to eye and with my short temper, we clashed a lot. Screaming at each other most days, arguing the days we weren't screaming, even going over the line and making my mom cry on multiple occasions (sorry!).

One day though, it all changed. I don't really know when or why it happened, but my mom and I just became friends. We laughed more than we yelled, we talked more than we argued, and we just had genuine fun with each other.

One thing not just my mom emphasized, but my whole family did, was always to be honest. No matter what, just be real. Sometimes people are shocked about the stuff that I tell my mom, but if I can't tell my mom stuff who can I tell anything to? My mom knows my wild weekends, my deepest secrets, my sincere beliefs on life, and anything else you can think of, and it's awesome. She may not agree or like to hear some of the things I talk about, but in our eyes, it's worth it.

Since we are so real with each other it makes our relationship extremely strong. We say crude jokes to each other at each other's expense, we can play jokes on each other without me getting mad, and when we do get into fights it's so much easier to just forgive and forget.

My mom never lets me forget she was in 36 hours of labor when she had me, and that probably wasn't even the worst of it. She dealt with my fears of every little thing, my temper, me acting out in school, and a whole host of other things. She was always there and never left my side.

One piece of advice I always try to remind myself is it doesn't matter as long as your mom loves you. The heartbreaks, the failed classes, the getting caught making questionable decisions, me and my dad's relationship ending, not knowing how to pay for school, as dark as it always got in the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter because my mom loves me. All the weight and burden just seems to go away when you think about it like that. Thanks for all the unconditional love mom, I love you.